Students retrieve their belongings after California shooting

Parent Mirna Herrera kneels with her daughters Liliana, 15, and Alexandra, 16 at the Central Park memorial for the Saugus High School victims in Santa Clarita, Calif., Friday, Nov. 15, 2019. Investigators said Friday they have yet to find a diary, manifesto or note that would explain why a boy killed two students outside his Southern California high school on his 16th birthday. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) — Students were allowed Tuesday to retrieve belongings left behind when they evacuated their Southern California school last week after a teenager shot five classmates, killing two.

Classes at Saugus High in Santa Clarita were canceled until Dec. 2, but administrators scheduled counseling sessions this week to help students, staff and relatives deal with last Thursday’s shooting.

Investigators still don’t know why Nathaniel Tennosuke Berhow opened fire in a campus quad and then shot himself in the head. The 16-year-old died Friday.

A wounded 14-year-old girl was released from the same hospital Friday. A 14-year-old boy was treated and released Thursday.

The dead were identified as 15-year-old Gracie Anne Muehlberger and 14-year-old Dominic Blackwell.

Thousands of people attended a candlelight vigil a city park Sunday night.

Mike Kuhlman, deputy superintendent for William S. Hart Union High School District, said students could pick up their belongings from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday.

“I think I’m just nervous for the kids,” parent Sarah Acosta told KABC-TV. “I think they lost a little of their innocence through this whole thing.”

Returning students hugged one another, greeted teachers and pet therapy dogs that were on hand. Outside the school there was a large memorial of flowers, photos and handwritten notes.

“It’s with a heavy heart that we approach this task,” Kuhlman said of the retrieval of students’ personal items. “We cannot lose sight of the fact that there are families in our community whose lives have been shattered by the events of this past week.”

The district’s 15 other campuses reopened Monday.

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